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COST OF CIGARETTES RISES, GAS PRICES FALL, NEW PHONE NUMBER-BLOCKING SYSTEM COMES INTO FORCE, CRIT'AIR STICKERS COST LESS, AND THERE ARE RULE CHANGES FOR AIRBNB PROPERTIES IN BORDEAUX
CIGARETTES Smokers will have to dig deeper from Thursday, March 1, as the price of a pack of 20 rises by an average of €1 to around €8. President Emmanuel Macron has promised that the cost
will continue to rise to about €10 before the end of his first term. GAS The cost of gas will fall by up to 3% on February's prices. The cost of gas for central heating will fall 3%,
for cooking 1% and for cooking and hot water 1.8%. PHONE NUMBER-BLOCKING From this month, telephone operators must offer customers the option of blocking calls to premium numbers, including
089 numbers and paid-for SMS services. The blocking option must be made available at no cost to subscribers. CRIT'AIR A total 9.5million Crit-Air anti-pollution stickers have been sold
since they were introduced in Janaury 2017 - and, from this month, they will cost less to buy. The stickers, which are a requirement if motorists want to drive in several French cities,
including Paris, Lille, Lyon, Toulouse, and Grenoble, will cost €3.11 instead of €3.70. With postage costs, that means the price will fall from €4.18 to €3.62. AIRBNB Anyone who rents out a
property in Bordeaux on online rental platforms is now required to register it with the authorities as a commercial enterprise, as the city cracks down on people flouting the legal 120-limit
for renting out primary residences. Three agents will ensure that Airbnb-registered properties in the city are properly registered, authorities in Bordeaux said. They estimate that 8,000 of
the 10,000-14,000 rental properties in the city are on the Airbnb website. Paris already requires Airbnb landlords to register their properties.